Earth Escape:Odyssey to the edge of the universeBy Real LaplaineGenre: SciFi Adventure

Earth Escape is a sci-fi thriller set in the very near future, bordering on a dystopian age where geopolitical powers on Earth are edging toward nuclear war, and meanwhile, the interstellar ship, Evolution, and its captain, Jim Tale and his Ai companion, CASS, are light years away in search of a new home and answers to the dilemma facing mankind. Was it the Big Bang, Divine creation or were we put here for reasons we have forgotten? In this thrilling space odyssey, Jim Tale, a misfit - a man haunted by demons of his past and plagued by these existential questions, faces the most brutal truths about who we are and the creation of the cosmos and the role he must play if he hopes to save Earth from an imminent apocalypse.
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​I’ve seen some pretty incredible things these past years during our voyage, everything from Qwan to toothy raptors, but this one takes the cake.
She, assumedly a she by all her physical attributes, tips her head at me with an inquisitive eye.
“Welcome, Captain Tale. My name is Prima,” she says.
I’m still dumbstruck, honestly – I mean, what the hell do I say to an astoundingly beautiful alien, standing naked in front of me? My training didn’t exactly prepare me for this – in fact, there is no precedent in my life to relate to.
She tips her head at me with an inquisitive and humorous eye.
“Are you shocked to see me, Captain?” she asks with a playful grin.
I clear my throat.
“Honestly, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say.”
“Isn’t it customary to start with ‘Hello’ or ‘Take me to your leader?’” she replies.
Humor always works with me, helping to break down awkward social barriers. And besides, how dangerous can she be, right? I step from the ship and land on firm footing. On what, I have no idea, because just a few minutes ago there was nothing here – absolutely NOTHING!
I’m really trying to act normal, but honestly, there is nothing typical about being greeted by a beautiful and very naked woman here on the edge of nowhere.
“I wasn’t expecting a welcoming party – certainly not…” I hesitate to glance at her entire physique.
“Do you object to my being naked?” she asks.
“Well, not really, but frankly, it’s not the customary greeting protocol.”
“Of course not. Under the circumstances this must seem completely unreal.”
“You could say that.”
“The proclivity to hide sexuality is an aberration in your world, Jim Tale, not mine. But if it disturbs you I can cover myself.”
“That’s ok. How do you know who I am?”
“I know everything about you. Shall we talk, Captain? I promise not to bite.”
She motions me to the left of the ship and there, in the midst of this large room, which seems to have no parameters, no finite surfaces that I can make out, is a small table and three chairs.
I walk over and lower myself into one. Prima slips into the one across from me.
In my defense, I haven’t seen a naked woman in nearly thirty-eight years, not since before Angie died, so the sight of this very shapely, although, intensely unique creature, with her medium sized breasts gently undulating as she moves, is, well … a minor distraction to my male mechanisms.
“Where am I?”
“This,” she waves a hand, “is the Construct, what you might call, the first of all Constructs.”
“What does that mean?”
“It was from this very location that the Universe, which you know, was created.”
Right there I catch my breath.
She continues, as if we’re talking about what’s for dinner or some other mundane shit, without realizing that her statement has just knocked the air out of me.
“Captain, I know you have many questions and I am prepared to answer them, but to do so we must follow a certain path, otherwise all of this will seem too incredible for you to accept. And secondly, time is a critical issue.”
I shake my head.
“I think the “too incredible to be believed boat” has already sailed.
She grins.
“And why is time critical?” I ask.
Prima tips her head to one side – her face becoming more somber.
“Your world is tipping dangerously toward global nuclear war as we speak and if there is any hope of stopping this from happening then we must act quickly.”
“And you expect me to do something about this when I am sitting here at the far end of the Universe, supposedly?”
“Yes I do. In fact, the one and only condition which makes our dialogue possible, and for you to find the answers which you have sought your whole life, is that you first agree to assist me in changing the course of your home planet.”
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Victor Hugo said ... "A writer is a world trapped in a person."

​That about sums it up for me. Besides the fact that I have a passion to unleash a world of ideas inside of me, my purpose for writing is to inspire others, to remind them that good does prevail over bad, to entertain the minds of readers, and to spark fires all over the world which introduce ideas, which incite activism, evolution for change and not an abiding faith to crusty old mediocrity; and ultimately, to repeat the message which sometimes gets lost in the miasma of life - that no dream is too big to realize - no matter what others may say the stars can be reached by those who want to.

"Everyone enjoys the escape. The thrill of living vicariously through the eyes and skin of characters who do things we may never do, or who in fact, mirror parts of our own lives, or who taunt us to live up to our ideals, our potentials - to our dreams. I write because it's a thrill, because coffee is cheap and I can sit and drink it all day while conjuring up stories for readers to enjoy. Reading is soul food. It opens new horizons to us, it stretches the mind and it reminds us that no dream is too big to realize."